discovered that ale kept in a corked bottle
would become bubbly. Quite early on, the
discovery was attributed to Alexander Nowell,
dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Thomas Fuller,
in his 1662 History of the Worthies of
England, wrote:
Without offense it may be remembered,
that leaving a bottle of ale, when fishing, in
the grass, [Nowell] found it some days
after, no bottle, but a gun, such the sound
at the opening thereof: and this is believed
(casualty is mother of more invention than
industry) the original of bottled ale in
England.By 1700, glass-bottled ale sealed with cork
and thread had become popular, along with
sparkling Champagne (p. 724). But both were
largely novelties. Most beer was drunk flat, or
close to it, from barrels. Centuries later, with
the development of airtight kegs, of
carbonation, and the increasing tendency to